Antepost: The Paddy Power Handicap Steeplechase

Christmas is only days around the corner, and that means a huge festive period of racing for all fans to enjoy both here in the United Kingdom, and across the Irish Sea.

There are plenty of races to have a bet in, including 10 National Hunt meetings on Boxing Day. For a sport which has so many problems including small fields and uncompetitive racing, why we need that many meetings on one day is beyond me? I suppose huge crowds flock to race days as a tradition around the country, but that many meetings do not appeal to me as a fan of the sport.

A meeting which does appeal to me, and many others every single year, is the 4 day meeting at Leopardstown. There will be plenty of clues provided over these 4 days for the spring festivals, and there will also be plenty of bets for punters to have with top class competitive racing on all 4 days. There will be more blogs to be posted in the coming days with all my selections not just from Leopardstown but other courses, however there are 2 that already catch my eye for a competitive handicap chase at Leopardstown.

The Paddy Power Handicap Chase has always been a real competitive handicap for punters to unpick on the 2nd day of the 4 day meeting, and it normally contains some high quality horses. Anibale Fly was a high class winner of this race back in 2017, and went on to compete in numerous Gold Cups. I don't think there is a horse like that in this field but there are 2 that stand out as potential winners.

There will be no surprises in this selection, as he won't be missed by many punters in the coming days. PANDA BOY was 3rd in this race last year, only being beaten by Real Steel by under a length with Diol Ker splitting the 2 that day. That was some run by Panda Boy, who had only had 3 runs over fences before that effort. A 5th place finish in the Irish National in April finished off his season, and he went into plenty of notebooks for this coming season as a handicap snip.

Hunted around in a couple of graded races this season as pipe openers, he caught the eye in a graded event at Punchestown over 3 miles in October which contained Conflated. That caught my eye and with his trainer Martin Brassil excelling big time as a target trainer in the past few seasons, this has no doubt been his target for the first half of the season and will he will likely go close again - assuming he gets a bit of luck in running. He is worth a win only bet as he's not been missed in the market at 7/1.

Another bet, and I'm a sucker for punishment with this horse as he is often a punters horse, is AMIRITE. 11/2f for the Irish Grand National in April, he ran no race on soft ground. He needs better ground to be at his best, and Leopardstown will likely offer the best ground going at this time of year - there doesn't appear too much rain around to make it too soft for him.

A horse currently rated 138 in Ireland, he was last seen at Cheltenham in October in a long distance handicap. Finishing 4th that day, he made a mistake 3 out, and the saddle slipped under his jockey Rachael Blackmore. Mentioned as a potential target for this gelding in his stable tours, it's hoped the better ground and being spot on for the day with this being his main target will help this gelding show his true form.

I've always felt he would benefit from headgear after his defeat against Ramillies last year, as he tends to hang in a battle and may not be the most genuine - and if he does have headgear then it will improve his chances.

Priced at 14/1, he's worth chancing as an each way play as he is likely to offer a solid run as he's fairly dependable throughout the race. He may however improve with further racing, and isn't one to give up on if he doesn't bag a big one this season.

Bets:

Panda Boy - 1.25pts win @ 7/1 (Bet365)

Amirite - 1pt ew @ 14/1 (Bet365)

Antepost P/L:

+0.80 (5 selections)